Fred Lambert

It’s kind of an “open-secret” in the auto and tech industries that Apple is developing an electric vehicle codenamed “Project Titan”, yet for the most part, the Cupertino-based company has been able to keep details under wraps.

In helping keep any development secret, Apple is believed to be using a shell company called Sixty Eight Research based in Sunnyvale, California. Neighbors have recently been reporting heavy security presence and a lot of noise around the location. 
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Last month Tesla released its latest ‘Autopilot’ update (v7.1), which we covered intensively on Electrek, but if you are not up-to-date with Tesla’s latest software, the Model S’ Autopilot now includes a new feature called ‘Summon’, which allows Tesla owners to remotely move their vehicle without anyone in it.

At the moment, it is primarily used to get the Model S in and out of a garage easily, but in the future, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says you will be able to summon your car from across the country and it will come meet you while charging at Tesla Superchargers along the way.
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Since Tesla launched the Model S in 2012, the automaker has been talking about releasing a software development kit (SDK) to create a full third-party app ecosystem for its 17-inch touchscreen, which acts as a center console for the Model S and X, but despite several inquiries from eager app developers, there has been little communication about the project until now.
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During an interview at Tesla’s design Studio in Los Angeles, Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented on Apple’s rumored electric vehicle program, codenamed “Project Titan“. It was hardly the first time the CEO commented on the project, but it always interesting to hear about the possibility of Apple bringing an electric car to market. This time Musk called the project under-development an “open secret” and agreed that Apple is “serious about it.”
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Just barely in time for Christmas, Tesla updated its online store to add new apparel and accessories, including new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus leather cases/wallets.  If you have a Tesla enthusiast on your Christmas list, this might be your best last-minute shot for a holiday gift.
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After just over a year at Apple, former Mercedes R&D chief Johann Jungwirth left the company earlier this month to join Volkswagen AG as the new ‘Head of Digital Transformation’. Even though his official title at Apple was “Director of Mac Systems Engineering”, the executive was rumored to be working on the company’s electric car codenamed “Project Titan” due to his extensive automotive background and the timing of the hire, which was followed by several other engineering hires with experience in the auto industry.
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Although Apple has yet to confirm the existence of “Project Titan,” it seems like every week brings a new clue that the company is indeed working on an electric car. We learned that Sixty Eight Research, a sketchy firm widely believe to be a front for Apple’s effort in the automotive business, recently attended the 17th Global Car Body Benchmarking Conference in Germany.
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Last week on our sister-site Electrek, we reported on Faraday Future (FF), a well-funded California-based startup looking to invest $1 billion to build an electric vehicle factory in the US. Due to the company refusing to disclose its CEO or investors, some media outlets have been reporting that it could be a front for Apple’s Project Titan.

But it isn’t likely for Apple to have any involvement with the company since everything points to it being backed by the Chinese technology company LeTV.
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Original story from Electrek.

Digital license plates are a relatively new concept that could open up the transport industry to an array of new features. Beyond the Big Brother-like properties the implementation of the technology could enable, like location tracking or alerts for expired registrations, it could also greatly facilitate fleet management and transfer of ownership – things that are crucial for the future of mobility to embrace autonomous driving and ride-sharing.

We learned that among Apple’s hundreds of recent hires with automotive experience, the company hired a veteran software engineer with an expertise in fleet management software and especially digital license plates.
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Tony Fadell, often called the “father of the iPod” and now CEO of Alphabet’s Nest, is on Bloomberg TV today to discuss his time at Apple, the future of mobility and his current effort in the connected home industry. During the interview, Fadell revealed that back in 2008, he had discussions with then Apple CEO Steve Jobs about what an ‘Apple car’ would look like and how the company could approach such a project…
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A patent troll is currently suing Apple, Samsung and half the automotive industry – as well as other companies – over the use of a vague, decade old patent that covers operating certain functions of a vehicle, like starting the engine and locking/unlocking doors, through a “watch” – now known as a “smartwatch”.

Intellectual Capital Consulting (LCC), the plaintiff in the lawsuit (which we embed below), claims that the defendants are using patented technology in smartwatch products and software that they are selling or contributing to sell.
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At this point the fact that Apple is working on an electric vehicle is all but confirmed. Recent reports show that Apple is searching for a private road-testing site, hired hundreds of workers with automotive industry experience and the company allegedly discussed licensing some technology from BMW. Officials within Apple have yet to confirm the ambitious new product, but CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the automobile industry is ripe for disruption and it is difficult to imagine them backing out at this point.

The electric car is reportedly codenamed ‘Project Titan’ and it is indeed a project of titanic proportions. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently made some comments warning the Cupertino company of the complexity of manufacturing cars. Those comments were surprisingly met by mockery from a lot of Apple fans. I think Apple can and will make an electric vehicle, but I’d like to put the project into perspective.

Read the full op-ed on our sister site Electrek.co

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San Francisco-based Mission Motorcycles, a maker of high-end electric motorcycles, recently filed for bankruptcy amid financial troubles. In the filing, current CEO Mark Seeger said the company is so low on cash that it can’t afford to pay for an attorney for the bankruptcy process, but while recently talking with Reuters, former CEO Derek Kaufman dismissed the company’s lack of money and instead blamed Mission’s demise on Apple’s poaching of top engineers…
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Yesterday we reported on comments made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk during a recent interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt. The CEO, known for speaking his mind candidly on occasions, made comments that could easily have been interpreted as critical to the design of the Apple Watch and the quality of the company’s hires from Tesla, but Friday afternoon Musk took to Twitter to soften those comments.
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